A mobile computing device such as a smart phone may have voice and data communications capabilities as well as processing capabilities. The processing capabilities may allow a mobile computing device to store and execute a number of application programs, such as a contact application or personal information manager (PIM) application, for example. A PIM may comprise software to manage contact information for multiple entities. For example, a user may use the PIM to search for a telephone number in order to initiate a telephone call. As memory resources for mobile computing devices increase, however, the volume of contact information stored by the PIM application may increase as well. Consequently, this may increase the amount of time needed to retrieve certain contact information from the PIM application. Accordingly, there may be a need for improved techniques to solve these and other problems.